Written Answers Friday 14 August 2009

Scottish Executive

Animal Welfare

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-24397 by Roseanna Cunningham on 9 June 2009, when it expects to receive the comments of the wider PAW Scotland partnership on the legislation, regulation and guidance on the use of snares.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Government have now received the comments from the wider PAW Scotland partnership on the legislation, regulation and guidance on the use of snares in Scotland.

Animal Welfare

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-24397 by Roseanna Cunningham on 9 June 2009, whether the recommendations of PAW Scotland on the legislation, regulation and guidance on the use of snares will be published.

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-24397 by Roseanna Cunningham on 9 June 2009, when the recommendations of PAW Scotland on the legislation, regulation and guidance on the use of snares will be published.

Roseanna Cunningham: The recommendations from the PAW legislation, regulation and guidance sub group on the use of snares will be published on the Scottish Government website shortly.

Climate Change

Malcolm Chisholm (Edinburgh North and Leith) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive for what reason the target of 10% of all journeys to be made by bicycle by 2020 is not included in the Climate Change Delivery Plan.

Stewart Stevenson: The 10% target is a proposal contained in the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland consultation document. Pledge number 8 in the Climate Change Delivery Plan states that "we will develop and deliver more sustainable transport to improve efficiency and reduce transport emissions in the longer term." The proposed cycling target would help us achieve that.

  The Cycling Action Plan for Scotland will be finalised and published towards the end of this year and will set out actions to encourage cycling, reduce emissions and assist in achieving the commitments made in the Climate Change (Scotland) Bill.

Economy

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what investment is planned in local infrastructure, including harbours and grid connections, in order to assist the Caithness economy in light of the decommissioning and loss of jobs at Dounreay.

Jim Mather: The Caithness and North Sutherland Regeneration Partnership (CNSRP), formed in 2006, aims to drive forward new initiatives to counteract the effects which the decommissioning of Dounreay nuclear plant will have on the area’s economy. The CNSRP’s published action plan (link below) includes plans to develop services and infrastructure at Scrabster Harbour, develop Wick Harbour and create the appropriate grid infrastructure to support future developments in the Pentland Firth. http://www.cnsrp.org.uk/files/downloads/download789.pdf .

Economy

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) independent stores and (b) branches of major chains have closed in each of the last three years, broken down by local authority area.

Jim Mather: This information is not held centrally.

Employment

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has information on which companies in North Ayrshire have made bids to the Future Jobs Fund.

Irene Oldfather (Cunninghame South) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people it expects will benefit from the Future Jobs Fund in North Ayrshire.

Fiona Hyslop: The Future Jobs Fund is a UK Government initiative managed and administered in Scotland by Jobcentre Plus. The Scottish Government does not possess the information requested. For further information, please contact Jobcentre Plus Office for Scotland, Corunna House, Cadogan Street, Glasgow, G2 7SS.

Finance

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the budgeted cost for improvements to the M8 bridge at Glasgow Airport is for advertising costs and what proportion is for television advertising.

Stewart Stevenson: The budget for the works is £1.2 million, of which the total cost for communications is £31,000. £10,500 of that is being spent on TV advertising. The cost for communications represents 2.6% of the total budget. TV advertising represents 0.88% of the total scheme budget. The remaining communications budget covers local print and radio broadcast advertising.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise

Liam McArthur (Orkney) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive what budget it has allocated to Highlands and Islands Enterprise in each year since 2002-03 and what budget it will allocate in each year to 2012-13.

Jim Mather: The budget allocated to Highlands and Islands Enterprise since 2002-03 is shown in the following table:

  

2002-03
  (£000)
2003-04
  (£000)
2004-05
  (£000)
2005-06
  (£000)
2006-07
  (£000)
2007-08
  (£000)
2008-09
  (£000)
2009-10
  (£000)
2010-11
  (£000)


 79,700
 95,300
 104,300
 99,000
 114,400
 114,700
 74,000
 73,100
 73,200



  The budget for 2002-03 was prior to the introduction of resource accounting and budgeting, arising from which a non-cash budget of £14 million per annum is included in each year’s figure above, from 2003-04 onwards. From 2008-09, Highlands and Islands Enterprise’s budget was reduced to reflect the refocusing of the organisation as part of this government’s reform of the enterprise networks, hence for that and subsequent years the figures are stated after budget transfers to Skills Development Scotland. Budget figures are not available beyond the spending review 2007, which allocated budgets up to 2010-11.

  Highlands and Islands Enterprise should not be viewed in isolation however, as it is only one arm of the very significant package of funding we have in place to support and stimulate economic growth in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.

  Skills Development Scotland, the newly established business gateway for the area, the Road Equivalent Tariff Scheme and the Town Centre Regeneration Fund together bring a funding investment of £26.7 million this year, in addition to that allocated to Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

  Businesses in the area also benefit from a range of non-domestic rates reliefs including the Small Business Bonus Scheme, which alone amounts to an estimated £14.4 million in 2009-10, Rural Rate Relief and Empty Property Relief.

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-24192 and S3W-25161 by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 June and 2 July 2009 respectively, what the reason is for the variance between the estimated cost to the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) as stated in Flooding Bill Financial Implications Assessment , the report compiled by MWH on behalf of the Scottish Government and published in September 2008, of £10.82 million until 2011 and the £3.34 million estimate stated in the answers and the financial memorandum that accompanied the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Bill.

Roseanna Cunningham: I am happy to clarify that the figures contained in the Financial Implications Assessment compiled by MWH were based on preliminary estimates by SEPA. These preliminary figures were revised by SEPA once further discussion over the nature of SEPA’s role and the scope and scale of the work required up to 2011 had taken place. These figures, therefore, quickly became outdated and have been replaced by the figures set out in the financial memorandum and the accompanying supplemental note to the finance committee.

  Revisions to the figures focused on aligning the funding to key tasks and deadlines. It is worth noting that reductions over the period up to 2011 in the financial memo are accompanied by increases in costs over the subsequent years of the cycle. This reflects changes to how funding is expected to deliver key tasks, rather than a significant overall reduction in the cost estimate.

  The SEPA costs set out in the MWH assessment also included costs for data licences. The government subsequently incorporated these costs into its implementation costs for the Act as it was felt that this approach would be more cost effective, since it would allow establishment of cross-organisation licence agreements. The minor difference in the total costs estimates for the six-year cycle between the two documents largely reflects this change in who should be responsible for the costs of data licences.

  Finally, all revisions to figures were based on close discussion with, and information from, SEPA.

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-24192 and S3W-25161 by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 June and 2 July 2009 respectively, from what source any balance of costs incurred by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in implementing the requirements of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 until 2011 will be funded.

Roseanna Cunningham: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-24193 on 8 June 2009. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/Apps2/Business/PQA/Default.aspx .

Scottish Environment Protection Agency

Peter Peacock (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answers to questions S3W-24192 and S3W-25161 by Roseanna Cunningham on 8 June and 6 July 2009 respectively, who will provide scientific and technical staffing for the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) in implementing the requirements of the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 until 2011.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) has established a formal programme for the implementation of its new duties under the Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act. This includes recruiting staff with relevant skills and experience to: commence the implementation programme; initiate the business change required in SEPA to implement new duties under the Act; build a training programme to develop future resources and help bridge identified skills gaps and develop methods for delivery of the preliminary flood risk assessment for Scotland, due in December 2011.

  To deliver the above, ten programme staff are being recruited in 2009-10. In addition, ten trainees will commence a two-year training programme with SEPA in September 2009. This is part of the Flood Risk Science Trainee Programme that will see a total of 30 trainees brought through a two-year MSc/training programme between now and 2013. This programme is in response to the current flood risk management skills shortage and is aimed at building SEPA’s staff skills base for the future.

Wildlife

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that there is an unavoidable need for measures to control the wallaby population on Inchconnachan.

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it would support a conservation management plan for Luss Islands that included the culling of the wallaby population on Inchonnachan.

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that measures introduced to control the wallaby population on Inchconnachan should involve relocation as an alternative to culling.

Roseanna Cunningham: I understand that Luss Estates, who are responsible for the management of Inchconnachan Island, are in the process of developing a conservation management plan for the Luss Islands, including Inchconnachan. The plan will take account of the island’s inclusion in a site of special scientific interest with objectives which include delivering the best approach to conservation of native wildlife and habitats. The estate has sought and received advice on the formulation of the plan from Scottish Natural Heritage, Deer Commission Scotland and the Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority. While the plan and any actions flowing from it are the responsibility of the estate, it appears that the process which the estate has put in place is likely to be helpful in informing responsible decisions about the future management of the island.

Young People

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many young people were not in education, employment or training in the Lothians region in each year since 1997, broken down by local authority area.

Fiona Hyslop: The Annual Population Survey is the official source for data on people not in education, employment or training. The table below shows the estimates from the survey of the numbers of people aged 16 to 19 not in education, employment or training in the Lothians region, for the years 2003-08. It has not been possible to break down these estimates by local authority area because the sample sizes in each of the local authorities are too small to provide reliable estimates.

  Prior to 2003, the source is the Labour Force Survey. The sample sizes from this survey are too small to provide any reliable estimates for the Lothians region.

  Number of People Aged 16 to 19 Not in Education, Employment or Training, Lothians, 2003-08

  

 Year
 Level


 2003
 3,800


 2004
 3,300


 2005
 *


 2006
 3,300


 2007
 3,200


 2008
 5,100



  Source: Annual Scottish Labour Force Survey 2003, Annual Population Survey 2004 to 2008.

  Notes:

  * Data withheld as unreliable.

  1. Estimates are rounded to nearest hundred.

  2. The survey sample sizes for these estimates are small, hence the estimates are subject to a high amount of sampling error.